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Traditional processes to examine and analyze evidence and documents have functioned relatively the same for decades. Why did two business professionals and entrepreneurs decide to tackle improving this space in the legal profession?

“Litigation is booming in the US – with the volume of electronically-stored information more than doubling every two years. We are seeing a magnitude of change occurring at a pace greater than in any other industry, and happening in one not typically adept with rapid change. Project management skills, process and quality improvement – widely-adopted and proven successful in aviation, accounting, business and medicine – are critical to the future of the legal profession,” says Raymond Bayley, President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Novus Law LLC.

“Long before the explosive growth of electronically stored information, the traditional processes used today were codified throughout the legal profession. However, the current evolutionary times, which include the emergence of new types of legal service providers and sophisticated technologies, have enabled legal departments to easily embrace innovation with lower risk, better compete through differentiated processes, and positively transform their practices like never before,” he adds.

“At Novus Law, we mapped the entire process of information-flow during an investigation or litigation matter and identified all of the routine touch-points. We realized that the prevailing processes lack the structures necessary to operate efficiently and several steps are redundant. For example, evidence – i.e. a single document – traditionally gets examined and analyzed by different players on average 14 times. Very little value is added each time, with a lot of money and time wasted in-between. All seven of the wastes from Lean Manufacturing methodology exist in the legal profession, and the unique and highly-engineered Novus Process™ has done away with every single one,” explains Lois Haubold, Executive Vice President.

“Security is another urgent issue at the forefront of our clients' minds, particularly when working with law firms and alternative legal service providers, like Novus Law. We have seen corporations move toward greater security standards, yet too often their partners lag behind. Our firm holds an ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management registration (and is the first in the global profession to hold a combined ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standard registration). This premier information security standard should be a fundamental requisite for all legal providers accessing confidential client data.”

Why should corporate clients – eager to cut costs and advance the value of the legal department – focus on making better decisions faster?

Bayley: The end-game for everyone is the advancement of in-house legal departments as value centers that positively impact US corporations. It is crucial, particularly in litigation and investigations, to move key decision-points forward, or earlier in the timeline of matters, so that CLOs, their in-house colleagues, and outside counsel can make better decisions faster.

Haubold: Through a combination of structured process control, quantitative analytics, advanced technologies (including augmented intelligence), and professional management, our corporate clients can quickly and concisely watch their matters come to life with unprecedented accuracy, in real-time, and three to five times faster than is possible using traditional methods. This means that they are also able to more actively participate in strategies with their in-house teams and outside counsel, and achieve better results for significantly lower costs.

What would be your one piece of advice for chief legal officers?

Haubold: If there is something you need, ask! We have spoken with many heads of litigation, and have yet to meet someone with excess time and money. When faced with fewer resources and greater demands, CLOs should be encouraged to look to their partners and service providers for help – whether it is a need for expertise or technology.

Bayley: We are in this together. While our firm prides itself on being a progressive, industry thought-leader, our services, technologies and processes are also continuously evolving specifically to meet the expressed needs of our corporate clients.

When we first entered the legal profession, change and innovation were considered scary things. That has changed. Those who understand and embrace innovation realize that a willingness to try new strategies and practices drives success, growth and profitability.

The 23rd Chief Litigation Officer Summit is the premium forum for bringing leading in-house litigation counsel across the nation together with service providers. The Summit offers a unique forum for service providers to interact with heads of litigation from the country’s leading organizations in an intimate environment. Taking place at the Omni Orlando Resort at Championsgate, Orlando, Florida, September 13-15, the Summit includes presentations on recent trends and developments on class action lawsuits, exploring GDPR, navigating the employment law environment, and innovative risk management.

Novus Law is an award-winning, global legal services firm with expertise in examining and synthesizing evidence for disputes, investigations, and compliance audits. Novus Law’s clients hire them because they help to resolve more matters faster, at a lower cost, and often with better results. The Novus Law team has re-engineered the traditional processes for document-related examination and analysis through structured process control, quantitative analytics, advanced technologies and professional management. For these achievements, Novus Law has been recognized as an ACC Value Champion (2015) and is the recipient of two global innovation awards from the College of Law Practice Management (2008, 2017).